Simons Mith
I have to largely quote a friend reviewing the same book, who wrote
"A Chinese box of a tale, with one tale containing another, which contains yet another, sometimes to the depth of six or seven tales. And Valente has this way of mentioning rather wondrous magical things in an almost matter-of-fact way, and describing the ordinary as if it were exotic, which I liked a lot."
I can't think of a better way to put it.
The early D6 Star Wars adventures such as Tatooine Manhunt and Battle for the Golden Sun (which could be told apart because they were saddle-stitched and 40pp or so whereas later adventures were perfect bound and 70pp or more) were all pretty basic scenarios. But Tatooine Manhunt (and also Strike Force Shantipole) were two of the better ones and were good fun! This adventure deserves a 3 or a bit over. And it did introduce a great villainess - the bounty hunter Zardra, who was entertaining and memorable enough to appear in at least one other adventure. More than one GM noticed that she was worth reusing. (But I called her Zadra in my campaign.)
There can have been few people who had as idyllic a childhood as Gerald Durrell. And I can think of none who have written about it with such warmth, perception and eloquence. (Albeit if with a bit of, um, selective exaggeration.) And Gerry wasn't even the family writer. This was the first book in a long long time that made me cry with laughter, but I'm afraid the Great Sparrow Massacre really got to me. And there are some new characters introduced that I hadn't previously known, just as warmly portrayed (and just as loony) as Spiro and the Captain.
It's described on the cover as 'a memoir as elegant, funny and affecting as his greatest performances', which I think is a very unsatisfactory way of putting it. In fact, the way the words 'funny' or 'laughing' have been shoehorned into all three of the blurbs/writeups of this book does it a notable disservice. David Mamet - author of Glengarry Glen Ross and Briane Greene (The Elegant Universe) both really ought to have done better.
The book is factual, unsentimental, achingly honest and affecting, but funny? No. He isn't trying to be funny here, and while he has wit and a telling turn of phrase, there are only a few lines in the book to make you laugh or smile. I am sure he is much funnier in person, but his style seems to be mostly wisecracks and one-liners. They don't have much place in this book, so they're (rightly) absent. However, this gives space for his slightly poignant view of the world to show through, and this is a more than worthwhile exchange. To be honest, given the life he has lived, I think poignant or wry is exactly the right view to take.
I think the thing I found most striking about this memoir is his light touch when dealing with some very sad topics - his mother was mentally ill and this, of course, profoundly coloured his childhood. He writes with gentle dispassion about the way he tried to deduce the rules of his mother's insanity, and how attempting to apply these rules logically led him to some very odd conclusions indeed. It is this exact same light touch that was evident in the M*A*S*H episodes he wrote, and doubtless his other works too. There's no doubt that he's worth of all his Emmys - for acting, writing, and directing.
Given how sad his life could have been, I could not help but feel glad for him how well he has succeeded. His wife Arlene is obviously a great blessing, and it is also touching that after many years he eventually manages to come to acceptance with his father. He even grows to understand his mother, something which also takes many years and much of his considerable insight and intelligence.
In conclusion, do not read this book expecting to laugh out loud every page, or even just once a chapter. Do read this book if you want a touching life story of a very talented and intelligent actor. Although of course the best piece of advice in the entire book is prominently displayed on the front cover, thereby allowing lazier readers much of the benefit of Alan Alda's wisdom at the minimum possible effort. :-) (Well, I have to put one joke in - this is Alan Alda here, and I don't want to leave the impression that the book is completely unfunny. The important point is that like Alda's other writing, it's not trying to be funny - so when the funny bits do happen, they're right and fitting, not forced.)
I typeset this :-)
A good translation of a good Danish story based on Norse mythology. I do feel we were missing out, not having a copy of this in English. For younger teens, 14ish I'd say. The mythology is well-told, seen from the viewpoint of a modern protagonist. If you know your Norse mythology, you'll recognise a lot of the goings-on in this tale, and they're not changed too much from some of the original tellings.
A mediocre fantasy novel which reads somewhat like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign, but not so much fun just to read about. Not as good as its prequel, Master of the Five Magics. Sixth was a book I only read because I had it, and I had no idea the series had been continued after this point. The 'Secret' isn't a very surprising secret either. 2 stars plus, but edging towards rather than away from 'Did Not Finish' territory, and I very rarely fail to finish a book.
Not a bad fantasy novel, reads a bit like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign. But were that the case it would have been more fun for the players to play through than it is for us to read about. (I doubt that it actually /was/ a D&D game, but that's how it came across, to me and at least one other reader.) Some good ideas in here which might be eminently nickable for an RPG, but only an average read, or a hair above.
There's an older edition of this from the 1980s because I read it as a kid. It's a solid piece of sci-fi with an interesting premise. Might make a good one-room play.
The mere fact that I remember the title and the plot (and half-remembered the author) this many years later should demonstrate that it's a sound piece of writing.
This is a fun book, whimsically illustrated in a 'Cat in the Hat' style, and is well worth reading, if you like surreal stuff.
For example: "The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small." He is rescued from being sucked down a gigantic whirlpool by a tribe of minipirates - four and five-inch tall beings, with two peg-legs, two hooks for hands, eyepatches and triangular hats, who are the unacknowledged masters of the high seas. When he grows too big for their ship they regretfully abandon him, and he spends a number of weeks crying to entertain an island of hobgoblins. He is later taught to speak - and indeed, not just to speak, but to master all forms of verbal communication - by a couple of talking waves who argue incessantly with one another, then later is rescued in the nick of time from a carnivorous island. This book is relentlessly, unflaggingly inventive and easily matches the flights of fancy in the Phantom Tollbooth and other such works. Needless to say, Bluebear finds himself well-equipped when he enters a lying competition later on in the book. A hundred rounds - also a record, against Nussram Fhakir the Unique, just before the City of Atlantis took off and flew back to its home planet. That's just a small part of what's here - just three or four of Bluebear's 13½ documented lives. Do check this book out.
Yeah, it's supposedly a kid's book, for kids maybe around Phantom Tollbooth age, but it's a very good translation, so even if you want to pretend to be grown-up you can read it to admire the translator's art. A bit like Stanislaw Lem or the Asterix books, the translation work is itself worthy of attention. And the level of surrealism is top-tier.
This is a modern superhero comic, a good one, in book form, and also available in epub, and IIRC pdf and kindle. [But epub can be munged into any format you like anyway.] The world is as fantastical as anything the Avengers have had to deal with, but a great deal grubbier and more ambiguous. The protagonist in Episode 1 is a good man whom fate dealt a generous hand, once upon a time, and then stripped more than all of it away.
The Minus Faction is of a newer time, when trust in governments has largely and deservedly vanished. The writing is sound throughout, with sharp dialogue and a cast of strong and interesting characters, and a couple of cultural in-jokes here and there. And then every now and then there's a golden paragraph of prose that uses the perfect words to say exactly what the author wanted. Not many writers, even the big-name ones, have that knack, but Rick Wayne does. It makes some small parts of the book extraordinary powerful considering it was only really intended to be a modern pulpy superhero novel.
Recommended to anyone who likes slightly grittier superhero stuff with some slight cyberpunk influences (nothing very overt). Also recommended if you want to look at a work with the occasional block of text that expresses itself as powerfully as anything Kurt Vonnegut has written, just to see how it's done.
A touching story, joyous, sad and romantic at different points. I think my favourite scene was right at the start of the book, when the traveller meets his future wife for the first time in his timeline and she's so delighted to see him again (after a gap of a couple of years, for her) that she completely bowls him over. I will usually read a 500-odd page book in two or three chunks; this one got read in a single sitting, something I don't often do. It's going to become an acknowledged classic, I'm sure of it.